Fashion designer Donna Karan is today mourning the loss of her husband Stephan Weiss. The 62-year-old artist died on Monday of lung cancer. A brief statement was released from the designer’s office, paying tribute to Stephan. “An exceptional creator and co-founder of Donna Karan International,” it read, “his wit, charm, intelligence and forward thinking impressed all who knew him. He will live on through the many whose lives he touched with his goodness and humanity.”
The couple, who met on a blind date when she was just 18 and he ten years her senior, were devoted to each other. When the sassy New York designer released her eponymous perfume, she said that it had been formulated to smell “like Casablanca lilies, red suede and the back of Stephan’s neck.” Her husband designed the fragrance bottle, basing it on the curve of a woman’s back.
Although the couple had no children together, Stephan had two from his first marriage, and he doted on Donna’s only daughter Gabby. He also had five grandchildren whom he adored. A respected artist, Stephan shunned public recognition for his sculptures and paintings, possibly because he felt that, as the other half of a famous fashionista, his work would not be taken seriously; also because he viewed the artistic process as essentially private.
After luxury goods conglomerate LVMH acquired DKI, his wife’s business, for $643 million this year, the couple jetted off to a secret island to renew their wedding vows during a private ceremony.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
